﻿﻿Today, I want to talk about the NZIPP – yes the New Zealand Institute of Professional Photographers. Hope I have that right. Over four or five days (might be more) the members come together and share like no other organisation of a professional nature that I know of it. As a part of that gathering there is the Epson/NZIPPP Iris Professional Photography Awards. ﻿﻿

On Sunday morning they announced the finalists. I was very excited as there were more than one Canterbury photographer in the photography of the year finals.

We have such an amazing group of photographers here in Canterbury – Penny Nichols, Anthony Turnham, Tony Stewart, Clinton Lloyd, Katherine Williams and Neil Williams, Shar Devine,Andy Brown, Juliette Capaldi, and Susannah Blatchford, there are probably others that were recognised as well and my apologies if anyone has been missed. I am going to visit their pages now and see what photos I can share. (Hope they are OK with that.)

My Facebook page has shown me that they must work hard and socialise equally as hard. What I think is one of the most exciting parts is that this must give those people starting in the industry something to be a part of and to aspire too. I remember going to a World Conference and winning an award and there is nothing like how you feel having that kind of recognition from your peers. When you hear how much work goes into being recognised within NZIPP – you realise that you can’t be a part-time professional. It has to be your life!

I was delighted that I could watch the announcement last night in a live stream as they gave recognition to Kate Christie and the other photographers who around the country have been a part of the major project to capture photos of our veterans. The importance of this project can be recognised, in that already, some of those veterans have passed on. The photos will be treasured by families forever. An awesome project to be involved in.